


The Past Does a Lot More than Haunt You

by Crymore



Series: Raylin Palmer [2]
Category: DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV)
Genre: Dirty Talk, F/M, Mentions of siblings fighting, Palmer siblings do not get along, Praise Kink, thigh riding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-15
Updated: 2018-04-15
Packaged: 2019-04-23 02:28:56
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,182
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14322564
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Crymore/pseuds/Crymore
Summary: There’s a reason Raylin never visited her brother, Len finds out why.





	The Past Does a Lot More than Haunt You

Lisa had always been the best wing man, and she still was even if she was no where around Leonard. 

Raylin loved hearing all the stories Len had to say about his childhood with Lisa, each one eliciting cooing and laughter, and always ending in an affectionate gesture on some sort, usually kissing. Len of course was silently flabbergasted as to why Ray romanticized a normal sibling relationship, because she had a brother, and older one to boot, shouldn’t she know what it’s like? She talked about Sydney sometimes. Short stories about camping trips and embarrassing high school tales.

Leonard didn’t realize how bad Ray’s and Sydney’s relationship was until he saw them interact.

They needed some Palmer tech from Raylin’s private lab, which was in the basement of her house. Gideon said the house was now occupied by Sydney, which Ray wasn’t very surprised at, and the scoff she gave was easily written off as good-naturedly exasperated. 

They waited until night, about two years in the future from their timeline, until the thieves, Sara, and Ray quietly snuck into the large towns house. Len kept close to Ray, who led the pack, and barely paid any attention to the area around him. If Raylin was right, Sydney would be asleep like a rock on the fourth floor, and they were in the basement, no reason to worry. Beside, Sara was keeping watch in the back, Len could keep watch over Ray.

The lab was in the back of a basement crowded with cardboard boxes and “non-dangerous robotics” as Ray had said. Everything was fine until Sara looked away from the main door for a minute to say something to Mick when the door creaked oped and the sound of a cocking gun resonates in the air. 

Len’s first instinct was to wrestle to the back of the group, shield the others with himself, cold gun brandished, but Ray shouldered Len behind her and took his place. 

“Who are you.” A low voice demanded, shaking and inexperienced with sounding threatening.

“For gods sakes Sydney, you’ll shoot your eye out!”

The man flicked the light switch on, casting the basement in a yellow light.

“…Ray?”

The man, from what Leonard could see, was the perfect male equivalent of Raylin. Tall, muscular, dark hair, dark eyes. Every feminine curve Raylin possessed was translated to defined muscles on, apparently, Sydney. 

The two stared at each other in a silent standoff, neither making a move for silent, long minutes. 

Ray smiled awkwardly at her twin. 

“Hey, Sydney.”

The man blanched.

“You’re dead.”

The group behind Atom shifted awkwardly, Mick and Sara parting to allow Len to get closer to his… whatever she is. They hadn’t really talked about labels. 

Raylin shrugged. “Whoops?”

That seemed to be enough to spark an argument. 

“Whoops? Whoops! What the hell, Raylin! You fucking implode and you show up, not dead, two years later-“

“Forgive me for not exactly wanting my dead beat brother-“

“Dead beat! Felicity and I had to drag the company back from the grave-“

“Sure Felicity and you-“

Maybe if it had been a normal, passive-aggressive sibling fight like the kind Len and Lisa had, with snarky comments and barely there insults, Len wouldn’t be so worried. Instead they went to each others throats. Sydney insulted Raylin about her failed projects, horrible relationships, and bragged on how he was still their mother’s favorite child. In turn, Raylin spat out about how he was still unemployed, still mooching off of their father’s inheritance, still hasn’t done a single thing to brag about. They called each other out on their failures and their faults and neither looked like they were going to back down. It was a verbal knock-down drag-out that finally gave Len insight to Ray’s childhood. A childhood she carefully avoided talking about, even to Len.

A mother who loved, but had no idea how to show it, leaving the inquisitive and adventurous Raylin to her own devises rather than step in and try to connect. A despondent father who preferred Sydney because the son was social and had friends, where as Raylin was too smart for her own good and had trouble even talking to people who weren’t of her mental caliber. The twins apparently always fought growing up, and the premature death of their father in their teens only made the rift bigger, Sydney clinging to the golden boy image that could do no wrong like who his father (a surgeon) painted him, and Raylin, who refuse to abandoned the happy and aloof persona she has invented for herself and redused to be the first to make peace with her brother. 

Beside the obvious physical features, the twins seemed to share their stubbornness. Apparently it was inherited from the father. 

The fight reached its climax, both siblings yelling over each other, but Len stopped the whole ordeal the second Sydney took a half step forward and Raylin took one back, to keep the distance. The protective flare Len possessed lit up and his brain, unfortunately, once again filled in blank spaces of Ray’s life. 

Sydney and Ray fought. They both fought viciously. No doubt, at some point, fists were involved in their younger years, probably before they knew the differences between “sibling rivalry” and abuse. 

“Oi!” 

The argument ceased at Leonard’s call.

Ray stiffened at the cool contact that Len gave her, his front pressed firmly to her back. 

Sydney eyed the interaction with wide eyes and a familiar tilt of his head. Maybe stubbornness wasn’t the only things the twins shared. The brother was watching with seeking eyes, looking for cause or hint, already pricing together theories and reasons as to why sister was comfortably pressed to a criminal. Like Raylin, Sydney was an observer, a thinker, he just never follows through with his ideas. 

“Hate to break up this lovely little family reunion-“ Mick snorted at the comment and Ray gently elbowed Len’s side in retaliation, “But unfortunately we need to do a grab and go, and we ain’t grab nothing yet!”

“Did you fake your death because you owed someone money?” Sydney asked, glaring at his sister.

“What? No!”

“Because you seem pretty okay with breaking and entering-“

“It’s my house!”

“And that is Captain Cold.”

Leonard rolled his eyes. “Always pleased to meet a fan. Now.” He wrapped his arm, the one without the cold gun, around Ray’s waist and gestured to the metal door that led to the private lab with the weapon. 

Sydney’s scowl became deeper. “You can’t go in.”

Len felt a collective headache throughout the group begin to form.

“Sydney, I’m not afraid to hurt you if you try to stop me.” 

The way she said it, cold and detached, frightened Len a bit. Ray had never spoken that way to him, even when they argued (hell she never spoke to anyone like that, not even Savage). 

Whatever happened between the twins had obviously tore an unfixable rift between them. 

At the words of his sister, Sydney faltered, his bravado facade cracking slightly and his posture becoming more tense from fear. 

“I need to get something from my lab, Sydney.” Raylin stressed, pulling from Len and being stopped by his arm. “Any question you have can wait until later.” A dangerous, and completely out of character, glint was found in Ray’s eyes. “Unless you managed to get in and messed with my stuff.”

Sydney scoffed. “I barely know what half the things you invent do, Ray. As if I could break into the lab.” 

“Good. You’d just wreck everything.” Raylin turned on her heel and stalked to the silver door, Len following loyally and Sara leveling Sydney with a warning look before following with Mick.

The remark causes Sydney to snarl, but said nothing, and follows the group.

Len watched Raylin angrily punch in the number combination (1-12-2007), carefully angling her body so Sydney couldn’t see.

“Sara, keep Syd out please.” She asked, sounding exhausted. 

Len frowned. Whatever it was that made facing her brother so hard was taking a large toll from the usually optimistic Ray. Len decided to question it after the mission, probably after a good meal when Ray is most complaisant. Or after sex.

Ray bent over to pick up a box filled with several do-dads and whatzits, making the jeans she wore stretch over her ass tightly. Len jaw clenched as he focused on a random Bruce of machinery on one of the many tables.

Yeah, they’ll talk about the whole brother thing after sex. 

Sydney huffed at not being allowed in but any complaint was silenced by the glare Mick threw him. 

Len had no idea what they were even looking for, something for the ship, but Ray looked like a woman on a mission, carefully sidestepping all the boxes and tables and inventions with a certain grace that showed she was comfortable in her surroundings. Len holstered the cold gun to his hip and explored on his own.

After a few fruitless minutes, Ray eventually just circled around with a look of confusion, face painted with a scowl (too much like Sydney’s in Leonard’s opinion). 

“What’s taking so long, Haircut?” Mick growled, rolling his shoulders. 

Ray saw whatever it was Len was playing with and smiled. “It’s good, Len’s got it.”

Len smirked, throwing the orb object in the air and caught it. 

“Do I get a prize?” He snarked, flashing a bit of teeth and Raylin’s hand also curled around the bit of machinery.

Ray smiled softly and gave him a smoldering look that was filled with promise.

Mick groaned loudly. “Can you two do that when I’m not around?”

“Let them have their fun.” Sara chuckled. “I don’t think they’ve had any alone time in a few days.”

“Three days, fourteen hours, twenty-eight minutes, and…” Len dramatically checked his watch. “Thirty-one seconds.”

“Poor baby.”

Raylin laughed awkwardly to cover her discomfort and scratched at her face to cover her blush. 

“Alright, lets just get back to the ship.”

“It’s later, Raylin.” Sydney reminded. 

Raylin sighed and gently pushed the orb into Len’s chest. 

“I’ll meet you guys back at the ship.” She said softly, looking to Sara. 

“What? No.” Len protested, his free hand wrapping around Raylin’s wrist, catching her gaze and display as much vulnerability Len was willing to show in front of others. “Ray-“

“I’ll be fine.” She whispered. She looked like she didn’t even believe her own words. “It’s just my brother, and I’ll give him the vaguest answers possible.”

That didn’t quell the wave of worry in Len’s chest. 

Sara protested as well, but Ray waved off her concern and made her way to her brother, away from Len and the team.

“Just tell Rip that I’ll be back soon, take the recalibrater with you.”

Rather than go through the basement window like before, they left through the front door, with Ray placing a chaste kiss to Leonard’s cheek, and a hushed promise of her safety. Len still had to be shouldered out the door by Mick. 

——

After stopping off in his room to drop off his coat and to pick up a few odds and ends, Len waited in Raylin’s room, which was dark with minimal light, and paced around its length. Walked pass the work table, were the exo-suit laid and where an office chair was neatly pushed in; her bed, which was unmade; the corner by the table, which had several pictures and designs and ideas taped up; and to her closet, where clothes were carefully placed and hung, organized by length of sleeves and color. Eventually the criminal settled on the bed, resting down fully and stared at the ceiling. 

Leonard hated being alone with his thoughts, hyper imagination was a bitch. He couldn’t even begin to fathom what Raylin and Sydney were doing right then. Probably arguing over the half-baked lies that Ray was trying to feed her brother. Most likely yelling, or screaming, maybe physically fighting. 

The thought forced Leonard upward. Okay, promises be damned, Len was going to go back, just to make sure Ray and Sydney haven’t- 

The door slid open. Raylin waltzed through, door closing behind her. No sign of injury, just a peeved expression. Upon seeing Len, primed to pounce off the bed, she raised a questioning dark eyebrow. 

“You okay?”

Len stood up and stalked over to the woman, pulling her flush to his body. 

“I don’t like you being away from me.” Len answered honestly, ducking his head down to Ray’s neck. “I like to have all my things in one place. Gems in a chest and so on.”

Ray laughed at the sensation of Len’s lips running up and down her neck. She shifted slightly, mood changing.

“You probably want to know what happened.” She moved away slightly, forcing Len to stop his actions. “I mean, I never really talk about what happened before I was the Atom, and you deserve to-“

Len stepped back into Raylin’s space and kissed her. On instinct, she opened her mouth without fight, allowing Len to slip his tongue in and to re-explore the familiar, warm cavern. Ray moaned, the vibrations ticking Leonard’s mouth.

While the hero was thoroughly distracted, Len easily clipped a cuff around her left wrist (a pair of hand cuffs was one of the “odds and ends” Len picked up from his room). The criminal stretched his arm back behind him, pulling Ray closer to him, throwing her off kilter. 

As expected, the hero stumbled clumsily into the criminal’s body, lips detaching from each other as Ray’s head softly collided with Leonard’s shoulder. 

She laughed breezily, half-heartedly tugging at the cuff, the other hand resting on his hip. “I would think you’d have an aversion to hand cuffs?”

“Yeah, on me.”

Before she had a chance to respond, Len kicked out Ray’s office chair away from the work table and sat down heavily into the faux leather. With an easy tug, Raylin was pulled on Len’s right thigh, straddling it.

Raylin sighed dramatically. “What’s with you and grinding?”

Len smirked. He had no intention of getting off that night. He wanted Raylin dazed and sated, compliant and talkative (as she tends to babble after sex). Beside, his favorite doctor had had a bad night, she deserved a little attention. Talking to family when the relationship was bad could be draining (Len would know).

 

“Put your other hand on my other shoulder.” He demanded softly, watching as dark brown eyes dilate and hearing the hastening of breath. Raylin complied, but not before trailing her finger tips all up Leonard’s side and neck. When she smiled cheekily, rolling her wrist and hand to show her accomplished task, Len leaned forward and kissed her, dragging her closer with one hand and cuffing her with the other. 

Once Raylin’s hands were fastened behind Len’s neck, he settled both hands on her waist, rubbing her sides up and down, moving his head to rub her neck with his lips. Out of habit, the criminal retraced all the hickeys her left before of her collar bone, behind her ear, just under her jaw. He bit the last place particularly lovingly, drinking in the huffs and moans Raylin was letting escape from her mouth.

“I don’t like it when you leave me.” Len stated, pushing Ray’s chin upward with his nose so he could kiss his jugular. “Even if it’s for a few hours.” He moved around to have his lips near her ear as his hands gripped Ray’s hips and slowly dragged her back and forth on his thigh.

Raylin keened into Leonard’s neck, the sound muffled by his skin, the sound high and breathy. Fruitlessly, she tried to pull her hands to the front of her, to grip his face, his shirt, anything, but that pesky little chain caught on Leonard’s neck prevented that.

With a hum, the criminal continued the drag friction between his lover’s (sure, lover was a good term; outdated but accurate) legs. Raylin moaned and heaved heavy breaths, kissing Len’s neck wherever she could place them. The hero still tried to support herself with her legs, to give herself some form of control. It was cute how she thought she had any to begin with. 

“Raylin…” he drawled lowly, being sure to drop the pitch to graveling. “Just let me take care of you tonight, hm?”

She allowed herself to go boneless at the indication of Len’s offer. 

He hummed again, letting the vibration tickle Raylin’s lips. A somewhat cruel idea formed in his head, a wicked smile gracing his lips.

“You always are so compliant, baby.” He growled softly directly into her ear, never ceasing his dragging. “You always listen to me, makes me so happy.”

The hitch in Ray’s breath didn’t escape his notice. 

“I love how you just trust me.” He raised his knee, changing the angle a bit, the pressure. “Love how you just let yourself go to me.” 

Raylin hiccuped, pulling herself closer to Len’s chest, tugging at her restraints. 

“Best part is,” Len pull her hip towards his with a snap, causing Raylin to gasp. “You like it too, like not thinking for a while, like giving yourself up to me, like tossing away the genius and hero titles just for a few precious moments.” Unable to cover her face like she normally would, Ray settled for digging her face into the exposed skin of his neck. Len could feel the dampness of her tears, her saliva from the kisses, the slickness of proof of her enjoyment. “I like being the only on that can do this to you.”

Ray groaned, letting her arms go limp, totally giving herself to Len and his hands and his leg. 

“I just wanna make you feel good; you feel good, baby?”

He received an appreciative hum, but no words. Len stopped all his movements, leveled his leg again, not even removing his hands. 

Ray whined, and shit Len wanted to hear that again. She looked up, eyes red and mouth shiny with spit. She looked wrecked and desperate, her eyebrows knitted together and brown eyes blown and doeful. 

“I asked you a question Raylin.… I think it deserves an answer.” Len licked his lips, restraining himself from kissing Ray senseless. “Do you feel good?” He repeated; then slowly, at a torturous pace, pulled her forward to punctuate the question. 

“Ye-yeah, yes.” She shuddered, lips quivering.

Len smirked, leaning in close, gently brushing his lips over Raylin’s, only to pull back when she tried to chase the pressure. 

“‘Yes’ what, Raylin?” He teased, flashing a toothy smile.

“You make me feel good,” she whined, eyes glassing over. Len knew that look from seeing it several times before; the last few minutes before she came. “Y’Make me- me feel-“ she gasped wantonly and grinded her hips roughly against Len’s thigh.

Len chuckled darkly, tightening his grip until Ray had no choice but to stop moving. “Uh-uh, Bambi, I’m taking care of you tonight, remember?” 

Where the fuck did Bambi come from? Oh right, those big brown eyes. 

Finally giving in, Len leaned over and kissed Raylin, and tongue and teeth and filth, and Len jerked her hips back and forth quickly, bouncing his leg sporadically and listening happily to Raylin’s stuttered breathing and moans and pleas that passed from between their mouths. 

The chain that had been digging harshly into Leonard’s neck suddenly became taunt, and Len knew Ray was going to lose it soon.

He continued his movements, murmuring nonsensical praises that made Ray melt against him, teeth clanking together. 

“Len, Len, shit-“

He smirked. “Language, Bambi.” Increasing his pace he moved to her ear again. “Good girl’s don’t cuss.”

With a finally shuddering breath in, rib shaking and chest heaving, Raylin groaned loudly and came, falling against Len. 

The criminal slowly decreased the speed of his movements until he stopped completely, leaving a boneless and out of breath Raylin on his lap.

Len was proud of the fact he managed to remain in control of his own erection during the whole ordeal. He didn’t want a blissed out Ray to worry about his hard on should he had one.

Raylin chuckled. “Bambi?”

Len hummed a laugh. “You got these big, beautiful, brown eyes. All deer-in-the-headlights.” He nuzzled her neck, rubbing her side. “‘S cute.” 

Len deftly unlocked the cuffs, and switch positions with Ray, easily picking her up and placing her in the chair.

Once he moved away, Ray whined again, rubbing her wrist. Ah, that’s right, Raylin was a cuddler. 

Len chuckled and returned to the chair, pulling it with him back to the table. 

“Chill, baby, I just wanna talk now.” He lovingly cupped her face, running a thumb under half-lidded, sleepy eyes. “Think you manage that, or do you want to take a nap first.”

Ray nodded, and Len walked around, hugging her from the back, chest pressed to the chair. 

Len pulled Ray, and by extension the chair, closer to him as he tucked her head beneath his chin. Her dark hair tickled his neck as her voice, deep with fatigue, began to sound through the room.

Weakly, she gestured to the corner with all the pictures. 

"Her.” She pointed at a specific photo. “Her name was Anna. We were engaged." she started. 

Len finally allowed himself to look at the picture that alway hung in the corner of the work station of Ray’s room. The picture of the pretty dark hair lady who was pinned next to the picture of Leonard and of Felicity.

"When the whole thing in Starling City, with Merlyn happened..." Raylin gave a shaky sigh, Len could practically feel the tears roll off the hero’s pale cheeks. "She died. I couldn’t stop it. I just... I just had to watch and be helpless."

"You became the Atom because of her." Len said, finally peicing the parts together.

Ray had only ever wanted to protect people, to keep them safe in the way she could not protect Anna. 

"Sydney was in love with her too." A watery chuckle racked her body and len tighten his grip. "I guess that relly put the strainon us. Syd never really got that I like guys and girls, and the fact that Anna picked me," she shrugged. "It really made him pissed. Wouldn’t talk to us the first few months of our dating back in the early years of college. We had a fight infront of Anna one day and we made her cry.” Carelessly, she blew a piece of hair from her face. “But Syd never apologized to me. Then again I never could apologized to him.” Her voice turned low and sad. “All we ever did was hurt each other. Never could be close.”

Len wanted to offer comforting words, something soothing and superficial that would lift the mood, but all words were lost. Len had shitty family relationships, sure, but he and Lisa? As close as siblings could be. The fact that Raylin and Sydney could barely stand to be in the same room as each other was unfathomable. So instead, he offered to change her into her pajamas, and to wipe the sweat and various other fluids off, and to tuck her in, to stay the night.

Ray gave some half-hearted excuse about the… whatever it was that they stole from herself.

Len offered to tell Rip that she was turning in for the night, and promised her that the machinery can wait until morning. 

After all little thing were said and done (Rip was on the bridge when Raylin came back, and seeing her post sibling-squabble was enough to quickly agree that, yes, Dr. Palmer definitely deserved a few hours rest before taking a hack at the machines), Leonard crawled into the small bed, letting Raylin wrap herself around him and sighing deeply in comfort, relaxed and happy.

A long silence was comfortable, until Leonard’s curiosity got the best of him. 

“What was she like?”

There wasn’t a need for any clarification on who she was.

It took Raylin some time to answer, long enough for Len to fear that he had crossed some line. 

“Like sunshine.” She eventually hummed. “She understood me in a way hardly anyone did, always knowing what I needed and when I needed it.” Ray shifted, pressing her lips lovingly to Len’s pulse. “Kinda like you, kinda the exact opposite.”

Len smirked in the darkness. “How so?”

Raylin softly laughed. “She… was like a warm summer day, all hazy and- and engulfing. You’re more cold-“

Len snorted.

“Shut it. Like, when I was a kid I walked to school, and during the winters, the air was cold, but the sun was warm. You remind me of that.

“You’re both know me though.” A hand traced schematics and doodles into Len’s stomach. “You both get me better than I get myself, and kinda keep me from, well,-“

“Spiraling?”

Ray snorted and nestled in, breathing in Leonard’s scent. “Shut it, Lenny.”

He breathed a laugh. “Night Bambi.”


End file.
